


Monday Afternoons

by rosemarypasta



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aobajousai, F/M, Karasuno
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27418015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosemarypasta/pseuds/rosemarypasta
Summary: You just recently joined the Karasuno boy’s volleyball team as their first year manager. As you grow closer to your teammates, you also unexpectedly grow closer to one of their biggest rivals, Oikawa Tooru
Relationships: Oikawa Tooru/Reader
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Friday  
12:50 PM

“Pleaseeee.” The red haired boy nagged.It was your first year in Karasuno High.

You had lots of expectations on what your high school experience was going to be like but you had absolutely no intentions on being involved in any sports whatsoever. Yet, there you sat in your seat, bombarded by two students from the neighboring class during your lunch break. You barely even know them.

“Hinata stop shouting! We’re in someone else’s class, idiot.” The raven haired boy ironically yelled as he hit his shorter friend on the head with a roll of documents, which were being forcefully shoved into your hands just a second ago. “I don’t even know the first thing about volleyball! Besides, I don’t know anyone there, won’t it be awkward?” You whined, trying your best to decline their ridiculous offer.

“That’s not true! You know us!” Hinata smiled. That was in fact, false. The only reason why you even know their names was because they forced Hitoka, your classmate, to tutor them for the exams and unfortunately, she caught a cold a few days before the exams so she forced you to cover for her for a few days. It’s not like you disliked them or anything, you just didn’t know anything about them other than their names and the fact that they both have very short tempers.

“Come on Y/N-chan! It’ll be fun.” Hitoka followed, smiling in the same manner as Hinata. You shot her a look, expressing your disgust at her betrayal. “Well if it’s so fun why don’t you do it instead, Hitoka-chan?” You replied to which she reacted by furiously shaking her head and hands, “My mom would never let me.” She playfully sighed, though you knew damn well she was relieved in the inside to have her mother’s strict wishes as an excuse to pass on the burden to you.

After another minute of bickering, the bell finally rang, dismissing everyone from their lunch break. Kageyama swore silently under his breath as he heard the familiar melody. “Look, just come by the gym today after school. Just um… think of it as a free trial. Let’s go Hinata.” He swiftly said, putting the club application form on your desk as he dragged his friend by the collar before escaping to their respective classrooms. You turned towards your blonde classmate who was already giggling at your suffering.

You sighed as you watched the teacher walk in your classroom. You slid the stack of papers under your desk and tried your best to forget your worries for the time being.

-

3:00 PM

The bell rang for the final time for the week and you quickly packed your bags. You had no intentions to stop by the gym whatsoever. You knew if you stopped by even for a second, You’d definitely get roped in and they’d guilt you into signing the form before the day was over. You were hurrying so much, planning to not bump into Hinata and Kageyama on the way home that you were practically shoving anything and everything into your bag. You said your farewells as quickly as possible to Yachi and your fellow classmates to avoid Yachi’s comments about skipping the meeting and rushed out to the hallways but unfortunately, you underestimated how eager the students were when it comes to going home for the weekends. But despite the tightly packed hallways, you were determined to slip into and nook and cranny available to get home safe and sound. It took a whopping five minutes for you to just get to the staircase. And as you were getting ready to finally reach the first floor, you overheard something peculiar from behind.

“Oh! Shoyo mentioned that there’ll be a new manager dropping by today.”

“Really? Damn I hope she comes cause if not, I guess we’ll just have to take her to the alley.”

The stairwell was filled with chatter but your ears oddly picked up the conversation revolving around the short first year volleyball player and the manager he was invited.

They were talking about you.

Take her to the alley? The alley? A million intrusive ideas came up to mind. Were they planning to kill you if you didn’t show up?

You laughed at yourself quietly. There was no way a high schooler could commit such violent crimes over something small like a sports club. Though curiosity got the cat and you slowly turned your head as naturally as you possibly could to see what they looked like. You caught a glimpse of the two boys conversing about you and felt like you could wet yourself. One was tall and had a buzz cut land the other though not as tall and was actually around the same height as you had spiky dark hair with a blonde streak which fell on his forehead. They looked like thugs.

Feeling terrified was an understatement. Were they members of the volleyball club too? The sight of the two unfamiliar menacing men changed your mind. No highschooler would commit such crimes but if one was to get murdered by two highschoolers, they’d probably look like them.

The conversation you overheard made you subconsciously turn on your survival instincts. As soon as you reached the first floor, your body turned towards the gym unwillingly. It was too late now, you could hear their footsteps trailing not far from you. You pushed open the gymnasium doors and was greeted by the sounds of squeaking volleyball shoes rubbing against the floor.

Everyone’s eyes turned towards you and the squeaking stopped abruptly. You couldn’t do anything but watch as their towering bodies slowly walked towards you. You have always avoided sports in general because you were short and naturally bad at it so you assumed that volleyball players were at least closer to normal people unlike the basketball players that looked like skyscrapers from a distance since Hinata was in the club but boy, you were wrong.

“Are you Y/N?” A deep voice right in front of you said. His shoulders were broad and big, though he wasn’t the tallest person in the crowd, his presence was still overwhelming. “Oh the new manager?” Another deep voice joined in. You turned to the new source of voice and froze at the sight of the volleyball player.

He had a beard.

You have heard a rumour circulating the halls about a third year in Karasuno that has been held back for five years because he was dealing drugs and had a favorite past time that consisted of beating up the younger students. Could it be him?

In the midst of the sea of terror, a vibrant familiar voice yelled, “Oh, Y/N!”. You looked up and felt tears of joy pooling around your eyes as you saw the red haired boy.

“Asahi, scoot over, you’re making her cry.” A grey haired senior laughed as he pushed the now concerned bearded man away from my sight. “So you’re going to be our second manager right? Y/N-san?” He continued, “My name is Sugawara Koushi and i’m the vice-captain of this club.” He had a soft and prince-like voice which helped calm you down. His smile was bright and charming, fit for royalty. He extended his arm gracefully and you carefully shook it.

It took a full ten minutes to get to know everyone in the club. Sawamura Daichi, the first person who spoke was the captain of the team. He definitely seemed intimidating at first but had a fatherly aura to him which made him a perfect fit for a captain. Azumane Asahi, the bearded man immediately cleared up all the rumours I’ve heard about and clarified that he was just an innocent 17-year old student. Then you were introduced to the second years and the rest of the first years who you weren’t familiar with. Tsukishima shocked you the most since he was pretty much the tallest member of the club and he was only a first year. You didn’t know how you went three months of school without knowing he was in the class right next to yours. With his height and blonde hair, you wondered how you could possibly miss him. Lastly, Hinata and Kageyama showed you the current manager, Shimizu Kiyoko.

She’s breathtaking.

Her silky black hair flowed in the air as she turned to greet you. All you could do was stand in front of her and be stunned. You felt like you definitely stared at her a second too long before introducing yourself which made things awkward but fortunately, she didn’t seem to notice. She was about to ask you about something but she didn’t get to finish her sentence as two screams filled the echoing gym.

“Kiyoko-senpai!”

You turned around to the entrance and fear took over your body once again.

The buzzcut and the blonde streak duo.

They were preoccupied with Shimizu so you tried your best to avoid attention and inch closer to the two boys you actually knew but before you could even make it anywhere close to the red and black haired duo, the two upperclassmen shifted their gaze from their senpai to you.

“Ah, Shoyo! So it worked!” The shorter of the two exclaimed as he jumped up and down, pointing at the red hair opposite him who was jumping up and down in the same manner.

You stood in the middle of the court confused. Work? What worked?

“Don’t tell me you actually went through with the plan.” Daichi scolded, his hands already crossed in front of his chest, to which the other third years responded with a laugh while the buzzcut, blonde streak guy and Hinata froze in the presence of their upset captain. “Oh so that’s why you’re here Y/N! Don’t tell me you actually believed the things Nishinoya and Tanaka were saying.” Sugawara attempted to sigh before chuckling himself as he put his hand on the captain’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

“I told you it would backfire.” The tall blonde sniggered alongside his olive green haired partner.

After a few minutes of scolding, Daichi made Nishinoya, Tanaka and Hinata apologize to you, which took you a few moments and an explanation from Sugawara as to why they had to apologize to why they had to do so. According to Suga’s explanation, the volleyball club was desperate to find a new manager since the third years would be graduating soon. As an act of desperation from Hinata, and a drive to impress their senpai for Nishinoya and Tanaka, they came up with a plan that would intimidate and scare you into joining the team. Though Hinata claimed and insisted that the second years went overboard and tweaked their plans on a whim.

“Well, now that everyone is here, Y/N, I think you can finally properly introduce yourself since all the distractions are out of the way.” Daichi sighed, shaking his head at his troublesome players.

You held your breath and faced your future, much taller teammates. Even though they are intimidating, they seemed much more fun than you thought. This moment may not be that pleasant in real time but you’re sure you could laugh back at this moment in the future.

“My name is Y/N and I’m in class 1-5.” You started, glancing from left to right. “I guess I’ll be your manager from now on so… I look forward to working with you all.” You bowed towards the unfamiliar faces. Your words were shortly followed by a series of cheers. “I guess this would be my life from now on for the next three years.” You thought to yourself.

-

6:00 PM

Three hours later, the Friday sun began to set. Though you have done the bare minimum of only watching balls get thrown across the room for several hours, you felt exhausted. The boys had three-on-three games amongst each other and you felt like you’ve aged ten years after watching a handful of them. If matches against their own teammates are that intense, you wonder what would happen in a real match against actual rivals. You prayed that you won’t get high blood pressure by the end of the year.

“All right, that’s all for today. Don’t forget that morning practices are still on for tomorrow and that the practice match against Aoba Johsai will start at two in the afternoon so make sure to pack a lunch.” The coach, Ukai Keishin, who you didn’t notice was the coach until thirty minutes into practice because of his youthful hairstyle, announced before the whole room scattered to clean the gym. You were in the middle of folding the chairs and storing them when it hit you.

Tomorrow is a Saturday.

You have also just realized that unlike the other clubs you’ve barely joined in the past, the vast majority of sports clubs train on the weekend as well. You mentally facepalmed yourself and cursed at Hinata under your breath for getting you involved in the club. A distant sneeze was heard from the red haired boy.

The clean up was easier than you thought, you were only halfway done picking the balls up from the ground when Nishinoya and Tanaka proudly announced that they were done mopping the floors in an attempt to impress their senpai manager. Shimizu quietly chuckled with you as the two of you continued to fill your arms up with more volleyballs.

“So, Y/N, I think you should get one of the boys to walk home with you. We don’t usually stay back until late at night like today but it might be scary to walk home alone.” Shimizu advised you as the two of you stored the balls away in the storage room. But before you could even ask for anyone’s help, the bright red-head started bouncing off the storage room walls. “I’ll walk home with you Y/N!” Hinata proposed eagerly as he dropped the folded net in the corner of the room. “But Hinata, don’t you live in the mountains? That’s the opposite way from my house.” You said, turning him down but despite your rejection, he was still keen to walk you home and insisted on going.

“I’ll walk you home instead, I don’t think I burned as much energy as I wanted to today so I don’t mind a longer walk home.” The black haired first year suggested. You raised your eyebrow and found it baffling that he felt like he didn’t burn as much energy as he wanted to despite just finishing a three hour long practice where he constantly had to run and jump.

You and Kageyama began to walk together. The sun was already out and the yellow tinted street lights were the only thing illuminating the streets besides the pale moonlight.

“Um, Y/N, we are headed towards your house right?” Kageyama abruptly spoke as the two of you began to enter your neighbourhood. “Yeah, why’d you ask?” You asked back. “That’s a weird coincidence, I live on the same street.” He stated, with a concerned and focused look, probably thinking of a reason why the two of you have never seen each other despite having the same route to and from school. It took you a few minutes to realize that you never go to school as early as him and go home as late as him because you’re never had morning and afternoon practice before.

“Oh, yeah! I’ve been in sports clubs for so long that I forgot that normal people don’t have the same schedules as we do.” He lightly chuckled after you voiced your thoughts.

“Gah! Teddy, NO! Don’t piss on my leg!” A voice yelled in the midst of the serene and empty night. Kageyama stopped abruptly as the voice filled the deserted street. The voice began to quiet down and started mumbling muffled words but It didn’t die down. In fact, it started to grow clearer and you and Kageyama started walking again. Shortly, you and Kageyama stood in front of a sweaty brown haired boy walking a small brown poodle.

“O-Oikawa-san?” You turned to your teammate.

Kageyama knows this freak that has been yelling and talking to himself?

The boy shifted his gaze sharply from the dog to you and Kageyama. “Oh, it’s Tobio-chan!” He sniggered as he ran his fingers through his hair.

His face was pretty and fair. Even under the yellow street lights illuminating him, you could see his sparkling brown eyes matched his equally as captivating brown hair perfectly. You rarely found deep interests in random strangers even if they were attractive but you can’t seem to take your eyes off the one standing right in front of you.

“What are you doing here?” The stranger in the turquoise and white jacket asked. His voice was stern, as if he demanded an answer from Kageyama. “Er- I live in this neighbourhood.” Kageyama mumbled but it was loud enough to be heard by you and the boy standing in front of him. “Really?! The one time my family decided to move to a new neighbourhood, you happen to be my neighbour?” He groaned, face palming dramatically while Kageyama continued to stand beside you awkwardly in silence. You began to question the identity of the stranger. He seemed like he hates Kageyama a lot but Kageyama isn’t doing anything. In practice, it seemed like any little thing Tsukkishima and Hinata did and said made him scream in annoyance but this guy who was so blatantly rude to him isn’t triggering him at all.

“Alright, alright! I get it, you need to pee!” The irritated brunette screamed at the odd acting dog that has been scratching his trouser for the past five minutes. “Tobio-kun, I look forward to destroying you in the match tomorrow.” He declared with his chin up, pushing his concerns for the dog away momentarily before walking past you two Karasuno students towards a nearby park.

You questioned and interrogated the now, much more quiet teammate and squeezed as much information you could in the remaining two minutes you had with Kageyama before you reached your home.

His name is Oikawa Toru and he goes to Aoba Johsai, the school Karasuno is playing against the next day. You tried to squeeze more information about the memorable stranger from the raven haired setter but all he told you was that he was his senpai back in middle school

-

12:00 AM

You plopped on your bed after a long day and closed your eyes to process the things that have happened in the last twelve hours alone. Even reliving the events that occurred earlier that morning overwhelmed you. You couldn’t believe you went through all that in a single day. Despite the variety of chaos you endured that day, you went to sleep that night with an image of a peculiar yet oddly endearing brunette stuck in your mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! because of my busy schedule as a ~high school senior~ I won't be that quick with uploading all the chapters here so check out my tumblr at rosemarypasta to read all 10 chapters there! I also post my work there first and there's a kuroken fic I haven't uploaded here so go check it out :)


	2. Chapter 2

SATURDAY  
8:00 AM

You woke up the next day super early to get ready for the practice match. Eight hours ago before collapsing due to an energy shortage, you made sure to set up an alarm for eight AM so you could have a full hour to get ready before going to the morning practice. You showered, brushed your teeth and ate some breakfast first thing in the morning. As soon as you finished your last bite of toast, you said goodbye to your parents and set off to school with thirty minutes to spare. You knew you could’ve used the remaining thirty minutes to chill for a second or do your homework that you didn’t get to do yesterday but you figured that you’d start to freak out and question why you were doing all this in the first place if you didn’t go immediately.

Physically, you felt tired and worn out from dodging stray volleyballs yesterday but you were oddly pumped and energized to go to practice. As you began to question your sudden surge of enthusiasm, your brain quickly reminded you of a reason why.

Oikawa Toru was a reason why.

You felt like a thirteen year old having a crush on the popular boy all over again. You’ve only seen him once and you find it ridiculous how much he has already been occupying your mind. He didn’t even acknowledge you last night. He couldn’t at least pretend to be interested in who you were and ask for your name. “Whatever.” You mumbled to yourself as you tried to push the image of the Seijoh student away. But there is nothing wrong with finding a stranger hot anyway.

As you entered school grounds and walked towards the gym, you could already hear the squeaking sounds the volleyball shoes made. You looked over to see the time on your cell phone and confirmed with yourself that you were fifteen minutes early. So how are there already somebody practicing? You peaked through the open door and caught a glimpse of the red head sprinting to the opposite side of the court in a blink of an eye. HInata suddenly jumps vertically up but falls shortly, a volleyball joining beside him a second later.

“You jumped too fast!” A familiar voice yelled. There was somebody else in there this early too aside from Hinata. “Well maybe you just tossed too slow.” Hinata pouted as he crossed his arms and legs like a toddler throwing a tantrum on the floor.

You giggled to yourself as you found the sight of a high schooler to be ridiculous.

“Ah! Y/N, good morning!” The redhead greeted you as he noticed you creeping from the door. “Hey.” Kageyama greeted you briefly before picking up another ball from the cart you and Shimizu organized after yesterday’s practice. Judging from the amount of balls already scattered throughout the gym floor, you could tell they have started way earlier than you previously thought.

The rest of the team quickly started to pile in the gym one by one. BY the time coach Ukai showed up, the whole team had already started their stretches. They seemed more fired up than yesterday.

You weren’t the type to keep up with sports but you do know that your prefecture was quite well known for some of their volleyball players. You’ve heard of powerhouse schools like Shiratorizawa and Aoba Johsai but you’ve never heard of Karasuno’s outstanding volleyball team. So if this is the performance and morale of a team full of nobodies, you wonder how insane the training is in the powerhouse schools.

The practice went by smoothly, no yelling or fights and most importantly, no injuries. They took frequent breaks to drink and rest in between different types of training. Despite it being a Saturday morning, you didn’t feel worn out like you did during yesterday’s practice. In reality, it was pretty entertaining watching them play a sport they are all so passionate about. Well, most of them seemed passionate. Tsukishima, the first year, seemed to be pretty good but anyone could tell that he was doing the bare minimum compared to Nishinoya and Hinata who were pretty much begging the coach to keep playing during breaks.

And before you knew it, twelve o'clock came around and the black and orange uniformed boys met their rivals for the day. Around the same amount of players in white and turquoise walked in the gym but as much as you scanned the crowd, you didn’t find the familiar face you hoped to see. You sank into the bench you were sitting on and sighed. Was he not a regular? Then why was he so confident in beating Kageyama when he isn’t on the team to begin with?

You contemplated whether you should ask Kageyama about him but you pushed that possibility away as you watched him do his final set of stretches to prepare for the match. You also thought it would be embarrassing if he knew you had an interest towards someone that was so ridiculously rude towards him. Though while debating with yourself, you caught Kageyama looking through the room and looking concerned for a while but shook it off swiftly before serving in the first set of the day. You knew Aoba Johsai has a pretty big volleyball team and they only brought twenty people to Karasuno so maybe Oikawa really wasn’t a regular.

Two sets went by and both Karasuno and Aoba Johsai each had a win which means the last set they played would determine the first win of the day. With a blow of a whistle, Asahi was already throwing the ball in the air to serve but got distracted by the sudden entrance of a brunette in a white jacket.

“Sorry for being late everyone, it took me a while to get the ok from the doctor.” He graciously announced as he leaned on the door with a white supporter on his right knee. “So you can finally play?” An Aoba Johsai player with spiky dark hair asked Oikawa to which he replied with a sparkly smile and an enthusiastic thumbs up.

“You guys lost the first set to them huh?” He casually spoke with a bright smile on his face that seemed sinister with the context and tone of the words he spoke. “Leave the rest to your captain.” He smirked. He pulled the jacket off his back to reveal his white uniform with the number one printed brilliantly across his chest.

As if the whole ordeal was pre-planned, the timid looking boy that made Aoba Johsai lose their set point the last set moved back and joined the rest of the white uniformed team on the bench with a simple hand gesture from the coach. Oikawa swiftly moved to the back of the court. His legs parted and arms wide open, ready to accept the ball his black uniformed opponent was about to serve.

As soon as the ball left Asahi’s grasp, Aoba Johsai was quick to react, even quicker than the last two sets they played. Each move the players made on court was filled with confidence and no hesitation was shown, as if a single person like OIkawa multiplied their skills by three just by setting foot on the polished wooden floors riddled with sweat. The brunette captain was quick to react when his name was called. He ran up to the front of the net, tossed the ball towards his teammate and allowed him to spike with all his might.

Watching the whole ordeal was mesmerizing despite being on, what seems like now, the underdog’s team. As the ball left the spiker’s palm, it zoomed in the air. You held your breath as you saw it in slow motion touch the area beyond the white line.

It was out.

You sighed in relief and sank back into the bench beside coach Ukai and Shimizu. You felt relieved that no one on the Karasuno team touched the ball since it looked like it was strong enough to break an arm. You turned to see them cheer as usual every time they win a point but the celebrations seemed to be duller than usual. They seemed tense, not letting their guard down as they briefly high fived each other.

“It’s the grand king’s turn to serve now.” You overheard Hinata mutter to himself as he wiped sweat droplets from his forehead. The grand king? Who’s the grand king?

You turned to the opposite side of the court and saw the pretty brunette spinning the ball on his long and slender finger. The Aoba Johsai captain threw the ball in the air lightly then proceeded to hit it to the point where the side where the ball touched his palm grew flat, parallel to his hand. You thought the last ball they hit was powerful but this time, you were sure that this one was strong enough to put a hole in the middle of the gymnasium.

The whole practice match went on for another hour and a half. The two teams played six sets in total. Two went to Karasuno while the other four went to the fashionably late captain’s team. You felt bad that your team lost, despite how much practice they put even before the official practice hours had begun but you assumed that losing four sets in a six set game to a powerhouse school wasn’t so bad.

Right?

Though, you thought the fired up ones like Nishinoya and Hinata would be bummed after losing a practice match but they seemed fine. They were mopping the floors as usual and were mingling with some of Aoba Johsai members who were still cooling down before journeying back to their school.

For your part of the clean up, you carried a crate of empty water bottles outside to the back of the gym to fill them with water. Carrying twenty empty bottles and filling them to the brim was no problem, but carrying them full back in was one. You took a deep breath in before focusing all your strength you had onto your fingertips but before you could even attempt to lift them, they seemed to float up on their own.

You realized the pair of hands on top of yours.

You startled yourself and dripped the heavy plastic crate to the ground as you jumped away in shock. “Sorry for scaring you, I just saw you struggled with it and wanted to help.” The captain of the opposing team spoke, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ah! No, it’s fine. Thank you for your concern and help.” You frantically replied back. You could feel your cheeks heat up in shame. You stepped away from the crate as he crouched down and picked it up like it was nothing.

“I’m Oikawa Toru, though I suppose Tobio-chan filled you in with that information last night?” He introduced himself as he began to carry the bottles in the gym. Your heart skipped a beat pathetically. He remembered you from last night. You let out a small sigh, disappointed at how easy it was for Oikawa to impress you this much by doing the bare minimum.

Though, despite your conflicting inner thoughts, butterflies unwillingly started to fill your stomach. “So are you Tobio’s classmate? You two seemed pretty close yesterday. Was he walking you home?” OIkawa set the crate down carefully on the floor, speaking casually as if you were already acquaintances for a long time. “Yes he did but it was nothing special- Shimizu-senpai told me to have someone walk me home since it was already dark outside.” Your face paced answer seemed desperate compared to how chill he was acting. “And we aren’t classmates, I’m just in the same year as him.” You didn’t know why you were so eager to answer each and every question he asked. You knew he was just making small talk but you answered as if they were the final words he would ever say to you.

You could tell he was the popular type. The way he acted and played screamed like the jock pride and joy of Seijoh. His perfectly styled hair, charismatic smile and toner body had the ability to make anyone, whether they liked men or not, drool.

“OIkawa get your ass in the bus, we’re leaving.” The dark haired boy in the number four uniformed yelled from the opposite side of the room. “Well, I guess this is goodbye for now, Y/N-chan.” He winked before running off to join his vice-captain who hit his head in response to Oikawa patting his hair once he caught up to his friend. You giggled at the sight of them bickering childishly as two of your seniors slid behind you.

“Don’t be fooled by that pretty boy’s charms, Y/N.” Tanaka warmed, his face contorted in intimidation in an attempt to scare the rival’s captain, which went unnoticed as he was already out of the gym, busy talking with his friend. “You two! Cut it out, don’t spread rumours about Oikawa.” Daichi sighed as he hit the two boys with odd hairstyles on the head. “They aren’t rumours if they’re true, Daichi-san!” Nishinoya managed to say as he winced in pain, rubbing the top of his head in sync with his buzzcut haired partner. “So what’s the deal with Oikawa-san?” You replied in curiosity without thinking further. Tanaka and Nishinoya snickered at your response, satisfied with the reaction they sparked and straightened their posture, before clearing their throats. “Well aside from the fact that he nearly beat up poor Kageyama when he was only in his first year of junior high just because he wanted advice on volleyball, I’d say he’s a decent guy.” Tanaka informed in a low voice, looking around to make sure Daichi wasn’t around to scold him.

Oikawa? Beating up Kageyama? He may look like someone from the popular side but he didn’t seem the type to bully someone, let alone an underclassmen who was two year younger than him. You wanted to ask more from the two troublemakers but given the look on your face and how the three of you were bundled up like a group of moms gossiping about their neighbour’s scandals, Daichi walked up to the second years with a sinister grin on his face but they were two steps ahead and dispersed on their own, pretending to be busy with cleaning up to avoid their captain.

After another hour of running practice outside, Daichi and Sugawara treated the whole team to some popsicles to cheer them up from the loss of the practice match and the team was shortly dismissed. You and Kageyama started to walk home together unintentionally and made small talk throughout the journey. You knew he was a nice person but you did pick up that he more or less lacked some social and communication skills. As the two of you talked about normal stuff, his answers sounded awkward and short but you were quick to realize that that was not the case when it comes to talking about volleyball so you switched the topic of the conversation to the practice match. You let him ramble on about his serves, Hinata’s failed attempts at a block, and other various things you barely even noticed in the match. It was a nice way to familiarize with volleyball terms so you didn’t mind. Besides,, he seemed pumped to talk about volleyball despite having just played it a while ago.

You were tempted to bring up oIkawa but you decided not to as you began to enter your neighbourhood. Although what Tanaka and Nishinoya said explained why Oikawa behaved superior and confident towards Kageyama the other day, it seemed more like harmless banter rather than petty bullying. Besides, a full three years have gone by since the supposed bullying so you were sure he has changed.

Right?

-

4:00 PM

“What’s with that face, you look constipated.” Iwaizumi abruptly spoke, sitting up on his bed as he pushed away a manga he was reading to narrow his eyes at his childhood friend.

Oikawa rested his head on Iwaizumi’s bed and smirked, “That Karasuno girl seems like she’s close with Tobio-chan.” He sneered, shortly feeling a sharp pain on his forehead.

“Don’t get any childish ideas, Shittykawa.” Iwaizumi spoke sternly in his signature monotone voice as he retreated his fingers after flicking his captain on the forehead.


	3. Chapter 3

MONDAY  
3:05 PM

The following weekend was a blur. You already expected that you would have way less free time now that you’re managing a team so you tried to catch up with your schoolwork over the weekend. Though unfortunately, in between math questions your mind tends to automatically play the conversation you had with Oikawa over and over again, making your consciousness drift to places that were far from related to algebra.

You didn’t know whether having his face plastered on the walls of your head was a blessing or a curse.

You expected this nonsense to be over once you reached school on Monday but alas, it got worse. You weren’t a model student to begin with but you did at least pay attention in class, but after the encounter on Saturday, your mind made the executive decision on it’s own to think only of Oikawa.

Though it was 100% more entertaining to think about anything other than school work, people have definitely caught on that you weren’t being your usual self, especially Hitoka, who was the only person you told about Oikawa.

“Geez Y/N, I know I’ve only known you since high school started but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this before.” Hitoka groaned as she snapped you out of your daydream, letting you know that class was already dismissed. She was right, you can’t remember ever being this boy crazy ever in your life. You don’t even have any celebrity crushes that you look up to that you admire this much or any actual male classmates that you’ve had more interactions with that you’ve crushed on to this extent. Was it the element of mystery involved in crushing on a senpai that doesn’t go to your school and you barely knew, contributing to this level of obsession?

You slapped yourself on your cheeks hard with both your hands in an attempt to officially wake yourself up before dashing downstairs to join volleyball practice.

The afternoon practice went by as usual though you did sense some things out of place. After coach Ukai dismissed the club, you were getting ready to fold the net and store it but two of your upperclassmen slid in.

“Don’t worry Y/N-chan, we’ll take care of this.” The shorter second year eerily said as he stepped in to take the net down before you could even touch it. The two have been acting overly protective since practice has started. It wasn’t like the uncomfortable way they have been treating the other manager but it’s more like having two overprotective older brothers you’ve never consented to having.

“Man, cut it out you two! Get over Oikawa, he was just being nice.” Sugawara scolded from the other side of the room through gritted teeth, as though he resented complimenting the Aoba Johsai captain.

So that’s why they have been acting odd. And how does Suga know about Oikawa? You guess you underestimated Tanaka and Nishinoya’s gossiping skills.

“He wasn’t just being nice, you know the type of pretty boy he is.” Tanaka bickered back, putting air quotes with his fingers as he said the word “nice”.

“I’ll do it.” A cold voice interrupted the argument. The tall blonde haired boy appeared out of nowhere and took the net out of the distracted second year’s hands.

-

6:30 PM  
You and Kageyama walked home with steaming pork buns in your hands that the team bought together after declining Daichi’s offer to buy them for the team again. The journey was mostly quiet that afternoon as the two of you were busy stuffing your faces with food but in between eating, you did talk about school and how Hinata and him got close in the first place. Apparently, they weren’t allowed in the club for the first week since they hit the vice-principal of the school with a volleyball on the first day of school. When he told you that story in his most casual tone, you couldn’t help but choke on the bun and the two of you had to stop walking till you finally calmed down.

You’ve never had a male friend who you were this close to and was this comfortable to be with. It’s not that you avoided making friends with guys in general just because they weren’t girls, and it’s not like their hobbies and interests were so far fetched from yours to the point where you couldn’t relate to them.

Even though you and Kageyama don’t talk all the time in practice, just being there for an occasional chat as he cooled down and walking home together everyday helped the two of you grow closer.

Then the conversation topic naturally progressed into discussing the prefecture’s strongest volleyball team. Kageyama told you he was aiming to go to Shiratorizawa but got rejected since his grades were so bad, which didn’t surprise you, though you were surprised he wasn’t offered a sports scholarship or something related to volleyball considering how good he was. Then it popped in your head that it was the perfect transition and opportunity to talk about Oikawa.

“So, Oikawa-san was-”

“Oikawa-san was what?” A familiar voice hummed.

You and Kageyama looked down the road and met eyes with the Aoba Johsai captain once again, who was busy handling three plastic bags filled to the brim with groceries on each arm.

“Oh it’s manager-chan! Then I guess I wouldn’t mind if you were the one talking about me, Y/N!” He smirked, looking at Kageyama dead in the eye as he relaxed his shoulder and the sight of his junior.

“Oikawa-san, isn’t Aoba Johsai kind of far away from here? How did you manage to buy groceries at this time? Don’t you have practice?” Kageyama inquired his old teammate as he eyes a box of milk that fell to the ground from one of Oikawa’s bags.

“My, my Tobio-chan, aren’t you getting a bit too intrusive on my private life.” He continued to reply in his playful voice as he bent down to pick the fallen box up. “Well if you’re that interested in my life, we don’t have practice on Mondays.”

“What?! That’s such a complete waste of time!” The black haired setter was baffled. You didn’t know why he was so repulsed by that idea, personally you would love an extra day off.

“Slacking off and taking a break are two totally different things, Tobio.” The brunette setter sighed at his junior’s overbearing will to play volleyball. “As an example, if I were to have a date with someone like Y/N, that wouldn’t be a waste of time, right?” He smirked once again, causing your pathetic heart to skip a beat.

“Well any practice time spent not training or touching the ball is a waste of time so…” Kageyama mumbled without much thought, though it was loud enough for you and Oikawa to hear. You punched your teammate hard on the arm as a reply, causing him to moan in pain and Oikawa to burst into fits of laughter.

“Man, Y/N-chan, you’re far more interesting than I thought,” Oikawa managed to say in between his laughter, “can I have your number?” He casually asked as your whole world blew up.

Your surroundings went mute and the world seemed overly saturated for a split second as Oikawa Toru’s words echoed in your mind.


End file.
